Why Bahamians should travel domestically post-Coronavirus

The Bahamas is a country that is heavily reliant on tourism and in light of the Coronavirus global travel has been curtailed. Hundreds of countries worldwide have closed their borders as a measure to reduce the spread of the Coronavirus. Here in The Bahamas, we have closed our borders to non-nationals. This has prompted airlines to reduce their routes and with respect to The Bahamas, stop all scheduled service completely.

Here are 5 reasons why Bahamians (those of us who are fortunate enough to be in a position to financially) ought to take it upon ourselves to travel to the family islands:

5. Inter-island travel will probably be open before our international borders

In The Bahamas, inter-island travel is currently prohibited. However, it is likely that the government may allow travel between certain islands before we allow tourists into the country. If that is true, then that would mean that there will be a time where the only people that can visit the family islands are Bahamians.

4. Nobody knows when other countries will open up their borders

Any plans of taking that dream trip abroad are definitely put on on hold. Each country is different from one another and there is no concrete way of knowing when a country will open its border. Each country is dealing with the Coronavirus differently and some may take longer to deal with it than others.

3. There are probably going to be great deals offered by hotels and airlines

In order to attract passengers and hotel guests, airlines and hotels are likely to incentivize travel. That means it's possible that they'll offer a lot of their services at a fraction of the usual price. I've already gotten multiple e-mails from one hotel in particular that I've previously visited about a 20% discount on rooms. Travel to the Family Islands has long been too expensive for Bahamians, but this may help to level the playing field.

2. We can help support the tourism industry on the family islands

Even when the borders are reopened it is unclear whether tourists will still flock to The Bahamas as they did pre-Coronavirus. There may be a long period of time before the tourism industry gets going again and we can help alleviate some of the strain faced by our Family Island counterparts.

1. It may be safer than travelling internationally

Depending on where you compare it to, it may be statistically safer to travel within The Bahamas. A majority of the islands in The Bahamas don't have any confirmed cases of the Coronavirus. Moreover, in the unlikely event that there is an outbreak, you would already be in your home country that is bound by the Constitution to protect your rights and civil liberties

Overall, if we're able we should consider travelling to the Family Islands. We owe it to ourselves and to our country to be aware of what's going on inside it and there's no better way to do that than experiencing it yourself.